Another Path
by danderson
Summary: Post-Shiz, bookverse, only Fae never went to Shiz. What might have happened, in that case


He hadn't been this drunk since Shiz - he hoped he would never be this drunk again. Fiyero, though, was _blindingly_ drunk, and there was nothing he could do about it. "It's too late," he muttered, as he staggered across a snowy road. "I can't... Too late to stop, I'm already drunk. Damn."

Even completely sober, it would have been difficult for him to see the approaching carriage. If he'd been sober, however, he would have probably been on the sidewalk. As it was, Fiyero was only saved from the rumbling beast on wheels by a tumbling person, who tackled him and rolled him to safety. "Sweet Oz," the person cursed - the voice sounded female. "Is this how you go through life, not looking where you're going, nearly getting run over?"

"Well, I..." He coughed as air came rushing back into his lungs.

"Oh," said the voice, disgust evident by the tone. "You're drunk."

"Only mostly drunk. Can we get up now?"

She stood, then pulled him to his feet as well. Once he was standing, he could see that, though she was nearly his height, she was frail. "Are you going to be alright?"

"Yes," he said. "Excuse me a moment." With that, he spun away from her and retched violently. "Especially now."

"You should get some mint tea," she suggested. "Mint is soothing to the stomach."

"Perhaps that would be best," he agreed. "Care to join me?"

She hesitated, then moved into the light. "There's a café around the corner."

"I'm Fiyero," he said, wondering why she appeared to be green, despite the fact that he wasn't wearing those green glasses.

"Elphaba," she said, shaking his hand. "Come, it's this way."

Everyone in the café was wearing their green-tinted glasses, and so Fiyero felt around in the pockets of his coat until he located his, miraculously not smashed. He slid them on, and Elphaba did the same.

Nobody stared as they ordered, or, nobody stared at _her_, rather. Green glasses or not, it was clear that his skin was darker than most. He always felt out of place here in the city.

They bonded over their mugs of tea, which he insisted upon paying for. He also insisted on feeding her, though he wasn't particularly hungry. As time passed, and he sobered, he realized he had never met anyone like her. She was revealing and completely secretive at the same time; she'd run away from home, she revealed, when voicing her jealousy at his attendance at Shiz. But she wouldn't say when, how, or why. She was honest, but not verbose.

She was magical.

They stayed longer than they should have. He didn't reveal that he was married, she didn't reveal that she was part of the Resistance. On the way out, he bought her some bread and cheese, concerned that she was very thin.

He was only allowed to walk her so far, and, before they parted ways, he shook her hand, gently. "Thanks, for saving my life."

"That was your one time," she informed him. "From here on out, you're on your own. It wouldn't be fair, to save you more than once."

He thought to himself that there were many ways to be saved, and nodded. "Goodbye, Elphaba," he murmured, leaning in to kiss her cheek. She reached up to press her palm to his cheek, savoring the moment of touch, and kissed him in return, on the cheek. Pulling away slightly, they allowed themselves to look into each other's eyes.

Kissing her felt to Fiyero like being young and free again, and not just because he could pretend he was free to kiss who he chose. It was because he knew that, if he'd _had_ the choice, his choice would have been the woman currently in his arms.

He left her there, on the street, in the cold, wishing he could stay, but knowing he had a responsibility to his family. Returning to his life in the Vinkus felt like death, felt foreboding. But it would be inconceivable to stay, no matter how much he wanted to. Even for another week. Even for the night. He suspected that he'd never be able to leave if he stayed much longer, anyway.

Later, tales of a wicked green woman would reach him, and he would pause to hear of it. But it _couldn't_ be the same woman that had saved and enthralled him that night, he decided.

He hoped that she was safe.

**So, there they are. Alive, and they'll probably remain that way. But apart, forever. Never having been together. I'm not sure it's better, really.**


End file.
